Murdoch hit by ratings slide as kids grow up

IT WAS fun while it lasted, but the vaudeville bubble seems to have finally burst. With those kids that carried the ratings juggernauts American Idol and The X Factor in recent years now growing up and heading off to university, it seems this is taking a toll on profits of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

''We have had a very disappointing year ratings-wise,'' News chief operating Officer Chase Carey told analysts on Thursday at the media company's second-quarter results. ''We're working to improve them.''

The soft ratings in News' US free-to-air Fox Network was largely behind the pullback in News' full-year profit guidance and the corresponding share price drop. All this has put a dampener on Murdoch's plans to split his company in two, where the unfashionable newspaper division will be sliced from the more profitable Hollywood-driven entertainment businesses. God forbid, maybe all those kids are going to start reading newspapers. Perhaps there's even a TV sitcom in that.

Free economy

TAJIKISTAN has Sughd and Panj; Russia has Dubna. Moldova has Otaci and Lithuania has Kaunas. Ireland has one, Iran has several, Georgia two and Bulgaria six. Free economic zones seem to be all the rage at the moment and Australia - on a high after winning a temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council - could be eyeing membership of this exclusive club. Just this week CBD was thinking fondly of the futuristic Multifunction Polis. Although it took a decade to officially kill off the MFP (in 1998), the clock is ticking on this one.

Tinkler stalled

COULD a simple breakdown be the reason why debt-laden Singaporean Nathan Tinkler can't make it to Bathurst?

The embattled former Novocastrian was to drive a Porsche around Mount Panorama Circuit in this weekend's Bathurst 12-Hour endurance race, but Wednesday brought the sad news that he had withdrawn his entry.

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A correspondent tells CBD that Tinkler's racing truck, emblazoned with his Hunter Sports Group logo, was spotted stranded outside of Richmond, north-west of Sydney, on Wednesday morning.

''It was there, bonnet up, for a few hours,'' our spy said. ''Last I saw of it there was a service van with a mechanic there trying to get it mobile again. Not much point in taking the Porsche to Bathurst if it is in a similar state of maintenance.''

Raw prawns

AND updating Wednesday's item regarding people getting food poisoning at luxury resort Hayman Island after eating the prawn pizza back in October, operator Mulpha International has been in touch to say it wasn't that bad.

''We had 2500 guests in October and there was no spate of food poisoning in [the island's Italian restaurant] La Trattoria or anywhere else on the whole island,'' a Mulpha spokesman said. ''We had two reports from guests of stomach problems during that time.''

Socialite deleted

AS IF the prospect of her husband going to jail wasn't bad enough, Sydney PR queen Roxy Jacenko now faces the ultimate indignity.

The Wikipedia entry of little sister Ruby now faces deletion because, according to one of the website's users, ''this person is not worthy of a Wikipedia page''.

Roxy and Ruby used to be best of enemies, with socialite Ruby allegedly punching her elder sister in the face after being kicked out of one of Roxy's PR shindigs back in 2008.

But things have seemed copacetic since last year, when Ruby made an appearance at Roxy's wedding to investment banker Oliver Curtis.

Curtis, a former Cleo Bachelor of the Year and the son of Lynas Corporation boss Nick Curtis, faces jail if he is convicted on charges of insider trading alleged to have reaped him more than $1 million.

''The last I checked, being a 'socialite' is not a profession,'' sniffed the anonymous user proposing Ruby be consigned to the memory hole.

''I am sure Ruby is a lovely person and no doubt may in fact one day be worthy of a Wikipedia page. Until then Twitter and Facebook are where her details should be found.''

Adding insult to injury, despite being the boss of leading fashion PR firm Sweaty Betty, married to a famous alleged insider trader and having her newly renovated home featured in Grazia magazine, Roxy herself doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry.